Missing Baby Gabriel Johnson: Dad is in San Antonio; His Cousins Found a Clue

The father of missing baby Gabriel Johnson, Logan McQueary, arrived with a cousin at San Antonio International Airport in Texas on Friday February 5, 2010 at about 9 p.m. He was met by famous Private Investigator Jay J. Armes, who is particularly renowned for recovering Marlon Brando's kidnapped son Christian. Armes has taken on the Baby Gabriel case pro bono. Even though the hour is late, McQueary is expecting to talk with San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) Chief of Police William McManus.

Baby Gabriel, who is now nine months old, was last seen in San Antonio on December 27, 2009, with his mother, Elizabeth Johnson. Johnson is in an Arizona jail on four felony charges including child abuse and kidnapping.

McQueary was on a road trip with cousins Joe and Lisa Peters following Johnson's kidnapping trail with Baby Gabriel from Tempe Arizona to San Antonio. CBS5 news correspondent Pat McReynolds accompanied them. On the way, McQueary stopped in El Paso to have his first meeting with Jay J. Armes, who has put together an outstanding investigative team for the Baby Gabriel search.

The road trip ended on Thursday night for McQueary when he was called back to the Valley by Johnson's landlord to clear out her trailer home, otherwise any belongings would be sold. While packing up, McQueary also looked for clues that might lead him to Baby Gabriel. Or that might give insight into Johnson's abduction plans. McQueary found a list belonging to the Tempe police that showed items confiscated by them during their search. Among the listed items were three cell phones that McQueary said belonged to Johnson and that he had not known about.

McQueary seemed emotional as he pulled out blankets from a hamper. "These were all his baby blankets that he [Baby Gabriel] had in his crib," said the young father. The crib he was referring to was the collapsible crib that Johnson had thrown into a shed shortly before leaving Arizona with Baby Gabriel. McQueary also found pajamas belonging to his son and a teddy bear. McQueary held some papers and the teddy bear as he exited from the trailer. "These are the only things I have left," said McQueary.

Later, McQueary caught a flight to San Antonio to meet up with Jay J. Armes and the SAPD Chief of Police. But while McQueary had been clearing out his trailer, his cousins Joe and Lisa Peters, who had remained on the kidnapping trail came across a clue, as reported by CBS5 affiliate KPHO.

When Joe and Lisa Peters stopped inside convenience store Town and Country in Ozona Texas- northwest of San Antonio- and handed out flyers, the manager, Jaclyn Rodriguez, told them that she distinctly recalled Elizabeth Johnson and Baby Gabriel, who had stopped there for gas. She said they were both wearing pajamas. She said Johnson held Gabriel without an embrace, letting his legs hang. Johnson took the baby inside a restroom and then came out with him. Rodriguez also told McQueary's cousins that she noticed Gabriel's nose was runny. When she remarked, "Oh... he's so cute", Johnson just looked at her and then smirked and walked out. Rodriguez regretted she had not called the police. Her input, she wept in a CBS5 interview, might have led to Gabriel before he could disappear.

While investigators have scouted out the Tessman Road Landfill several times and cordoned off an eastside area, they have not begun searching there for Baby Gabriel. McQueary said SAPD have been talking about the search for two weeks. He wants to know why they haven't done it. "Why didn't they already do it and rule it out so they can have those ten people working on other things on the case, asked McQueary." He is sure there is a track leading to Gabriel and he is sure that Gabriel is alive. "I know he's alive somewhere. I really feel it, that he is. We need to find that little thing... you know, that one little thing that will help us find him."

Sources are embedded.